A great deal of research in recent years has been focused on understanding sleep and its physiological and psychological effect on humans. While it is clear that humans require sleep to function properly, the qualities and quantities of sleep required is a much more complex problem. For example, some individuals that sleep too little may feel tired or fatigued during the day while other individuals that sleep too many hours have a similar feeling of grogginess as a result of sleeping too much. Researchers continue to study many different physiological conditions during sleep to understand the complex interplay between sleep and wakeful well-being.
To better analyze sleep, these researchers have broken sleep down into a framework or architecture having a series of cycles. One type of sleep architecture divides these cycles into REM (rapid eye movement) and Non-REM (NREM) types of sleep. A further classification divides the NREM sleep into: Stage 1 or Light Sleep —marked by a slowing in breathing and heart rate during the transition from waking and sleeping, Stage 2 or True Sleep—further identified with muscle relaxation, reduced or limited eye movement as well as body movement, Stage 3 or Deep Sleep Phase I—additional slowing of heart and breathing and Stage 4 or Deep Sleep Phase II—this is the deepest stage of sleep and arousal can be difficult. In contrast, REM stage or Dream Sleep is a separate type of sleep marked by a more distinct reduction in muscle tone and no body movement however breathing and heart rate may increase and become irregular; during REM eye movements are rapid as a person has vivid dreams.
Expensive computers and diagnostic equipment have been developed along with this research to identify these stages while a person sleeps. Sleep clinics located at hospitals and other medical research institutions admit patients briefly for one to two evenings for monitoring and analysis in order to diagnose sleep related illnesses and conditions like sleep apnea, insomnia, narcolepsy and other diseases. Medical doctors carefully review vital signs and other information collected from the person during sleep in an attempt to diagnose the specific conditions having a deleterious effect on the person's health and well-being. Due to the costs and business-like nature of medicine, doctors not only diagnose but often suggest medical procedures, prescription drugs and/or medical devices based on the data gathered during these abbreviated sessions. In minor cases, a doctor may prescribe a sedative or other drug to alleviate stress and induce sleep while in the more severe cases the doctor may also recommend medical devices to address specific conditions (i.e., a mask and breathing apparatus for sleep apnea) and perform radical and painful surgery involving the throat, nasal cavities, tongue and respiratory tract.
Drugs and surgical procedures not only represent risks but are often ineffective at treating sleep disorders. This is not surprising given the limitations and imperfections in monitoring and treating sleep disorders. First, the monitoring done in hospitals is expensive and typically available only near large universities and research institutions. As a result, data collected does not reflect a cross-section of society or a broad range of people but instead represents only those people near the sleep clinics and/or with sufficient insurance and financial resources to pay for the work. The resulting sleep data available is therefore limited and potentially too small to be considered statistically significant.
Further, data collected during these one or two night stays are often too short and unpredictable to make accurate assessment of problem. For example, a person sleeping in a clinic with numerous monitoring devices and other equipment may be uncomfortable and exhibit additional sleep problems. Any information gathered over the short period of time in a sleep clinic may reflect the person's discomfort sleeping in a clinic with numerous monitors rather than displaying the symptoms of a true sleeping disorder (i.e., sleep apnea, narcolepsy, etc.)
Current sleep research also does not address the more subtle sleep problems suffered by the majority of people as the focus has been more of a last resort for people with severe sleep conditions. If it were possible, many people could benefit from sleep research if it were available more widely and inexpensively.